The “Living Jewish” book was never out of reach for Addison Steinberg, who studied it daily not only in Hebrew school, but in the cafeteria, her mom’s car and her Montgomery Village home.
The past six months of reading, rigorously highlighting and jotting down notecards all paid off — the 12-year-old was crowned an “ultimate champion” at the 2025 JewQ International Torah Championship on March 30. (Addison turned 13 the next day.)
Addison was among 63 finalists from 26 countries in the international competition highlighting Jewish knowledge and identity. She competed against more than 4,000 other Jewish children across 250 communities in regional competitions, emerging as one of two top sixth grade scholars.
“At first I felt a little bit shocked, but overall, really proud of myself,” Addison told Washington Jewish Week.
JewQ ultimate champions are determined by a written test completed prior to the event based on their respective grade level’s “Living Jewish” book. Addison tied with fellow sixth grader Jack Starr, a member of CKids of Rancho Mirage, California.
Jill Steinberg, Addison’s mom, attended the championship — the culminating event of a CKids International program — along with her daughter in Parsippany, New Jersey. Before receiving their awards, the finalists took to the stage in teams to compete in Jewish trivia. The high-stakes, buzzer-beating competition, moderated by Rabbi Dovid Weinbaum of DW Productions, was streamed on Chabad.org.
Addison said she knew what to expect. She had competed in the previous year’s championship, where she was inspired by a “kind and confident” girl who won first place for seventh grade.
“I was like, ‘That’s so cool; I want to be like her, so I’ll study and do … everything that it takes to get up to it,’” Addison said.
And that she did.
Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, the executive director of Chabad Headquarters, announced the highest scorers of the written test, which Addison had worked on for an hour in her mom’s home office on March 16. The highest scorers in grades three through seven earned medals. Jill Steinberg made her way to the front of the audience in time to see Addison earn a gold medal for scoring 95% or higher. Then she saw her win an ultimate champion title.
“The rabbi announced, ‘Let’s give a big mazel tov to Addison Steinberg!’” Jill Steinberg said. “I didn’t even hear her last name. I was so thrilled with disbelief, but also I knew she could do it.”
Addison stood on stage with the other winners, each with a big gold trophy in hand, crying with “overwhelming” emotion.
“In that moment, I was just so proud of myself and everyone [who had] helped me get to that moment,” Addison recalled.
Addison, who attends Forest Oak Middle School in Gaithersburg, began learning at Chabad Hebrew School of the Arts in Olney two years ago, under the guidance of Rabbi Bentzy and Devorah Stolik.
Devorah Stolik, the director of the Hebrew school, noticed Addison’s enthusiasm for learning on her first day: “I’ve always seen her as a girl who’s curious and ready to learn.”
JewQ is part of the school’s curriculum, and Morah Devorah expects every student to take the four written tests throughout the academic year to demonstrate their understanding of a variety of Jewish topics: basic prayers, blessings, mitzvots and Jewish holidays, lifecycle events, concepts, tradition and heroes.
“What it did for our students is it created this ownership of information,” Devorah Stolik said, noting that her students attend public schools and may not have as much opportunity to connect with Jewish knowledge on a day-to-day basis.
Rabbi Stolik said studying this content is empowering for Jewish students because it ties them to tradition and their religious identity. Pride in one’s Judaism is as important as ever amid today’s resurgence of antisemitism.
“The beauty of this, in the backdrop of what’s going on in 2025, is that kids are raised to a place where it all clicks,” Rabbi Stolik said. “Judaism is not only something that they’ve heard about secondhand, but they own it to the degree that none of this other stuff, the noise and naysayers, phase[s] them.”
Winning an international Jewish championship title is especially meaningful to Addison as someone who has experienced antisemitic comments from a middle school classmate.
“It’s been really hard,” Addison said of this ignorance. She hasn’t stopped wearing her Star of David or let the comments get to her.
“People can say whatever they want, but it doesn’t reduce a person from reaching their dreams,” Jill Steinberg said.
“[Addison] had a goal and a drive,” Devorah Stolik said. “People are complimenting me or Rabbi [Stolik], and I’m like, ‘I am not taking credit.’ This girl, she was driven [from] the inside. … Obviously, we supported her and we helped her, but this is her. She’s an exceptional girl who wanted this.”
After the big win, Jill Steinberg reminded Addison of how far she’d come since last year, drawing a full-circle moment.
“I said, ‘Addison, you have to understand that there were little girls watching you, saying, ‘I want to be like her,’” Jill Steinberg said. “‘You’re a role model for other people to prove to them that if you have dreams and goals, with hard work and perseverance, you can do anything.’”
